Consumer spending, which in the United States represents more than two-thirds of the nation's economic activity, slowed down in May as inflation accelerated, the Commerce Department said Monday.

Spending by households had grown by a mere 0.3 percent in April, and most analysts had estimated a rise of 0.1 percent last month.

Consumers, affected by persistent unemployment of around 9 percent some two years after the official end of the worst economic slump in the United States since the Great Depression, faced high gasoline prices in May and a constant depreciation in home values.